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Urdunnir Dwarf
'Regions: '''Dwarf (shield), Lake of Steam, the North, Tethyr, Urdunnir Dwarf. Small numbers of urdunnir dwarves live among the shield dwarf citadels of the North, but most urdunnirs hail from their own secretive kingdom in the deep Underdark. '''Racial Feats: '''Stoneblood, Stoneshaper, Stonewalker Fist '''Level Adjustment: '+4 Urdunnirs, somtimes known as orecutter dwarves, are a long-forgotten offshoot of shield dwarves who have become one with the earth and stone. Thanks to the blessings of Dumathoin, urdunnirs can walk through earth and stone as if it were air and shape metal and stone with their hands. Many orecutter dwarves are clerics of dumathoin, expert smiths, or expert gemcutters. The children of Dumathoin, as they call themselves, believe that the Silent Keeper transformed their ancestors in order to create a race of dwarves who could appreciate the true beauty of the subterrainean landscape without needing to destroy it in the process. They have dwelt ever since in splendid isolation in Oldonnar, the legendary Lost Kingdom of Shanatar, deep beneath the Alimir Mountains. Averaging 4 1/2 feet tall but weighing much more than an adult human, orecutter dwarves are stocky and muscular. The skin of an urdunnir is light gray, and their eyes are always silver. Both genders wear their hair long, and males (and some females) have long, carefully groomed beards and mustaches. Hair color is uniformly gray with varying degrees of silver and black highlights. Urdunnirs see the world as a work of living beauty, walking though the stone and earth much as a diver might explore the wonders of the ocean depths. The children of Dumathoin regard themselves as particularly blessed, for they are not forced to cling to the exterior of durmathoin's creation like other races but can wander through the heart of the world itself in an endless search to uncover the Silent Keeper's hidden secrets (gems). Urdunnir dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves, but use the following random height and weight characteristics. Urdunnir Male: 4'2 + 2d4 180lb X 2d8 lbs Urdunnir Female 4'0 + 2d4 150 X 2d8 lbs History Shortly after Taark Shanat and his followers first claimed the cavers of Alatorin, Dumathoin transformed a small group of devout shield dwarves into urdunnirs, in hopes that they would be better able to appreciate the beauty of his creation. These early orecutter dwarves broke off from their fellows and set out to establish their own realm, deep in the heart of the world. Miles beneath the Alimir Peninsula, they discovered the Corundumdelve, a vast dodecahedron composed entirely of tightly packed amathysts, rubies, and sapphires, each larger than a dwarven helm. Seeing this as a sign from the Silent Keeper, the urdunirrin established the kingdom of Oldonnar around the Hidden Gem of the Depths and have dwelt there in splendid unchanging isolation ever since. Outlook Secure in their otherworldly fastness and isolated from external threats, orecutter dwarves have never experienced great wars with other races. As such, urdunnirs lack the martial traditions of their gold, grey, and shield dwarven cousins. Strangely enugh, urdunnirs share with druids and elves a deep understanding of the natural world. From a young age, orecutter dwarves are taught to live in harmony with their enviornment. They see Dumathoin's vast creation as a great sea of earth and stone, ever changing and always beautiful. They view their role in the world as that of both observer and artisan, working in harmony with Dumathoin's creation to unlock the secrets the Silent Keeper has hidden within. Thanks to their relative isolation, orecutter dwarves are rarely drawn to the adventuring way of life. However, those who encounter other races or stumble across doings in the Realms Above often find their curiosity piued, becoming driven to understand those who have not been blessed by Dumathoin. Urdunnir Characters Their cultural focus on craft skills has made most urunnirs experts in their trade. Others choose to serve Dumathoin directly as clerics. Fighters, rangers, and paladins are relatively rare, for few orecutter dwarves have ever been forced to practice the arcane arts are even scarcer, those evincing the powers of sorcery usually tracing their powers back to creatures of elemental earth. Common multiclass combinations include expert/cleric and expert/fighter. Favored Class AN urdunnirs favored class is expert. Far removed from the endless battles that have plagued their kin, the deep dwelling urdunnirs have the luxury of concentrating on their craft skills, forever seeking the buried treasures and secrets of Dumathoin. Prestige Class Urdunnir characters rarely multiclass into prestige classes, but those who do favor divine disciple, hierophant, loremaster, and runcaster. Urdunnir Society The isolation of urdunnirs has preserved traditional family and clan strictures in a form largely unchanged since the founding of Shanatar. In that respect, orecutter dwarves have more in common with their gold dwarf cousins than they do with the shield dwarves of the North. Class divisions are almost nonexistant, for there is little concept of wealth among the Children of Dumathoin, but clan divisions are quite strong and govern most societal behavior. Orecutter dwarves are raised in tight family units with clan elders playing a strong oversight role in the upbrining of each child. Book learning is common, albeit in forms not well understood in the Realms Above, and most children are apprenticed to learn a trade as they near maturity. The greatest artisans use their skills to unveil Dumathoin's secrets and shape his creations into new and pleasing forms, all without disturbing them from their original resting place. As orecutter dwarves age, they are honored for their wisdom and accorded respect for their past accomplishments. Families and clans are expected to honor their elders in death by weaving their bodies into gemstone veins that wind through the earth in a fashion befitting the deceased's reputation and accomplishments. Orecutter dwarves are almost unknown outside their own communities, but those who do leave usually see out other dwarven communities in which to dwell. They typically organize themselves according to ancient clan structures that suggest little understanding of the cultures in which they dwell or changes in the world since the birth of their race. Language and Literacy Urdunnirs speak Dwarven and eploy the Dethek rune alphabet. They also speak Undercommon, the trade language of the Realms Below. The only known urdunnir dialect, an archaic form of Shanatan, dates back to the founding of Shanatar. Common secondary languages include the dialect of Gnome spoken by the svirfneblin and Terran, the language of elemental earth. Some Urdunnir learn the language of their foes including the drow dialect of Elven, Kuo-Toan, Beholder, and Aboleth. Few venture close to the surface, but those that do occasionally learn Common, Alzhedo, or Illuskan. All urdunnir characters are literate except for barbarians who are very rare among this people. Abilities and Racial Features *+4 racial bonus on saving throws against poison: Urdunnirs are even more resistant to toxins than other dwarves. *Stone Walk (Su): Urdunnirs can pass through stone and earth as if it were air. They can carry up to twice their own ody weight with them in this manner. Urdunnirs (and anyone carried with them) cannot breath while within stone or earth and must hold their breath while traveling in thi manner. *Stone Shape (Sp): as the spell at will. CL 8. *Shape Metal (Sp): As the spell , except that urdunners can only affect 5 cubic feet of metal once per round at will. Using this ability is a full round action CL 8. *Automatic Languages: Dwarven, Undercommon *Bonus Languages: by region *Favored Class: Expert *Level Adjustment: +4. Urdunnirs have the ability to walk through stone and earth and two unusual spell-like abilities. They are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than the common races of Faerun. Urdunnir Magic and Lore To the urdunnir dwarves, magic has no inherent interest, but is a useful tool to help them delve through the heart of the world. They favor divination magic to commune with dumathoin, and illusions to keep the rest of the Underdark away Spells and Spellcasting Orecutter dwarves have a strong divine spellcasting tradition, with many of the Stout Folk called to serve Dumathoin as clerics, runecasters, or runesmiths. Arcane spellcasters are almost unknown. Spellcasting Tradition Urdunnirs favor spells that assist in craftwork or mining or enable close communion with Dumathoin, such as make whole, meld into stone, ''and ''stone shape. ''Orecutter dwarves have created many divine spells over the years; one such example is ''commune with earth. Many urdunnirs take the Runesmith feat because they have difficulty finding many material compentns so far beneath the surface. Urdunnir Magic Items Urdunnirs favor magic items that facilitate their craft skills or further their communion with Dumathoin. When they make weapons of war, they favor blades and axes with holy, lawful, mighty cleaving, sundering, and thundering special abilities. They also wield hammers and maces with holy, impact, lawful, returning, sundering, and throwing special abilities. Common Magic Items As befits their name, orecutter dwarves favor magic items that improve artisanship, such as anvils of the blacksmith, belts of dwarvenkind, forges of smithing, hammers of the weaponsmith, necklaces of prayer beads, tongs of the armorer, ''and ''whetstones of keen edge. Iconic Magic Items Urdunnirs are unquestions masters of magically enhancing dendtritic armor, which they call earthskin. The lucky purchaser who can find the urdunnirs in the first place can obtain a 10% discount on such armor. Urdunnir Deities The Children of Dumathoin have always venerated the Silent Keeper and see him as the patron of their race. The Keeper of Secrets under the Mountain is revered by all urdunnirs, whose mythology holds (correctly) that he created their ancestors by transforming a smal number of shield dwarves from ancient Shanatar. To the urdunnirs, Dumathoin's "secrets" are literally gems buried within the strata. Their patron's greatest gift was the ability to move through the earth, seeing the beauty of his creation that others can only experience through destructive mining. Relations with Other Races The deep-dwelling urdunnirs have little exposure to other races aside from those that dwell in the Underdark. They are deeply suspicious of elves and half-elves thanks to centuries of dealing with their dark cousins. They get along well with shield dwarves and gold dwarves, but dislike the gray dwarves. Halflings, humans, half-orcs, and most planetouched are almost unknown to the urdunnirs. However, they have good relations with earth genasi, whome they sometimes encounter exploring the depths of the earth. Urdunnir Equipment Urdunnirs encrust almost everything they make with gems and other treasures of the earth. They have almost no access to wood or other similar materials and find something as simple as a bow fascinating. Arms and Armor Urdunnirs favor a wide range of weapons, including battleaxes, gauntlets, halfspears, handaxes, heavy picks, light hammers, light picks, longswords, mauls, short swords, throwing axes, and warhammers. More unusual weapons include dwarven urgroshes and dwarven waraxes. Unlike racesthat live closer to the surface, orecutter dwarves use metal even for the hafts. This increases their durability in combat (increase the weapon's hit points by 50%) but doubles the weight of the hafted weapon. Typical forms of armor include breastplates, chainmail, half-plate, large steel shields, and small steel shields. More unusual forms of armor include dwarven plate, ''earthskin, ''and large mithral shields. Urdunnirs commonly employ equipment such as armor lubricant and thunderstones. Animals and Pets Urdunnirs generally eschew pets and familiars, since their subterranean homes are inaccessible to most creatures not of the Elemental Plane of Earth. Those very few urdunnirs who turn to arcane magic sometimes employ earth or magma mephits as familiars. Urdunnir Region Most urdunnir characters take the urdunnir region as opposed to the regions of the surrounding human lands. Preferred Classes Expert, cleric, fighter, paladin. A character of one of these classes may choose a regional feat and gain his choice of bonus equipment below as a 1st level character. An urdunnir character of any other class may not select one of the regional feats here and does not gain the bonus equiptment at 1st level. Automatic Languages Dwarven, Undercommon Bonus Languages Alzhedo, Beholder, Common, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Gnome, Terran. Regional Feats Stoneblood, Stoneshaper, Stonewalker Fist. Bonus Equipment *Heavy pick or heavy mace *chainmail or *Dwarven urgrosh, large steel shield, and 3 thunderstones. Category:Race Category:Races of Faerun Category:Humanoid Category:Humanoid (dwarf) Category:Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting